


It's Enough

by serendipityxxi



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-13
Updated: 2015-09-13
Packaged: 2018-04-20 14:58:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4791584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serendipityxxi/pseuds/serendipityxxi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes what you really need at the end of a shitty day is a hug.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Enough

**Author's Note:**

  * For [curiouslycurious](https://archiveofourown.org/users/curiouslycurious/gifts).



> So I'm not even really in the Once fandom anymore, this fic is a present for curiouslycurious who LOVES Swan Queen who I miss fangirling with! That said please forgive all inconsistencies and mistakes. 
> 
> Set at the start of 3B.

Emma and Regina slammed the door on the retreating backs of the townspeople with their torches and their pitchforks. They were off to go try to tar and feather Gold who was the real culprit tonight. Regina hadn't cursed any of them again, damnit! Emma knew she should at least try and dissuade them but Regina was shaking like a leaf and she didn’t think she could leave her right then. They both knew in a different time the townspeople would have been right with their accusations tonight, their ire would have been deserved. It had been a while since that was the case though, Regina had been walking the straight and narrow for months and the beginnings of a tentative trust between them were flourishing now.

Emma knew how much it had cost Regina to call and ask for help when the townspeople had shown up at her door rather than use her magic on them. She was proud of Regina for resisting that urge. She could see now the fear and anger and frustration of being wrongly accused still bubbling in Regina as she stood with her fists clenched before her door.

Without thinking Emma took a step forward and dragged the other woman into a hug.

“What are you-” Regina stopped, hearing the panic in her own voice, panic she hadn’t let show even when there was a horde of angry people ready to set her house on fire outside. She took a breath and tried again. “What are you doing?” she asked, pushing at Emma. Their fragile truce had been ongoing for months now but this? Regina had never expected this! She shoved at Emma again. “What are you doing?” she demanded but the blonde stood firm with her arms around Regina, holding her close. Regina pushed again but Emma would not be moved. She in fact dropped her cheek against the side of Regina’s head and rubbed her hands soothingly up and down Regina’s back.

“Look, just-” Emma sounded awkward and annoyed but still didn’t let go. “You need this right now, okay?”

“No, I don’t!” Regina protested, squirming against Emma’s hold.

“Yeah,” Emma told her, and all the awkward and annoyed disappeared into sure. “You do.”

Emma shifted her hold, one hand going up to stroke Regina’s hair with such care, Regina felt unwanted tears spring to her eyes. How long had it been since the last time anyone held her like this? Had anyone ever? And it was coming from Emma, who by all rights should hate her. Regina went still and let her face fall into Emma’s shoulder.

Emma rubbed her back again as she spoke. “Henry taught me this last year,” she explained, hands soothing and steady. “I was… having a bad day,” Regina did not miss the hesitation there and realized she had been the cause for the day, guilt coiled into her stomach. “And he came home from school and saw me and he just hugged me for what felt like hours. He didn’t get tired or bored and I was just so amazed by this kid,” Emma told her, her voice quiet and sure in Regina’s ear. “He said his mom would hug him when he had bad days and that would make it better.” Regina flushed, of course she’d hug Henry. He was a little kid.

“And I wouldn’t have believed that before, that just being hugged could make anything better, I mean what difference could a hug make when there are dragons invading your town, y’know?”

Regina gave a short laugh that to her horror sounded wet with tears.

Emma’s fingers stilled a moment as they carded through her hair but she continued speaking as if she hadn’t noticed and Regina let out a grateful breath. “But y’know what? It did. Those skinny little arms holding on so tight made me feel loved and appreciated and like even though I was still floundering he saw the effort I was making, even if I failed he still knew I had tried and that was enough for him. I was enough.”

Regina screwed her face up to hold in the sob Emma’s words inspired. Her beautiful boy. Maybe she had done one thing right in her life.

“I see the effort you’re making, Regina,” Emma whispered into her ear. “I know you’re trying and that’s enough. You are enough.”

Regina couldn’t help the little sound she made then and she pushed her face further into Emma’s shoulder in embarrassment but she had stopped trying to move away. In fact her own arms had come up to wrap around Emma’s waist, holding on like her heart was breaking. “I don’t think you were told that a lot growing up,” Emma whispered, “neither was I so I know how much it means. You are enough. You try and try and it’s so hard, I know, and it feels like you’re never going to get anywhere but you keep on trying and that is enough.” The dam that had been holding Regina’s tears back shattered at Emma’s words and she sobbed harder than she ever had, her whole body shaking with the force of her tears. Emma held her through the whole storm, never flinching when her shirt grew damp from Regina’s tears, just holding on, keeping her together.

When the storm had passed Regina held herself as still as possible, scared that Emma would let go, but she didn’t and in a tiny place in the most hidden corner of her heart Regina found herself wishing she never would.


End file.
